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Mel
Ahlborn
Interior
Castles,
from Teresa of Avila's book of the same name
June 1994
20"w x
28" h
Private
Collection
Let us not be so foolish as to lose time by waiting
to receive
what has already been given us once.
-Teresa of Avila
On the paths of our inner lives little has changed since St. Teresa penned
her manuscript Interior Castles some 400 years ago. She writes of how to
build a mansion of love within ourselves that grows to become an eternal
welcome for Christ's presence and an infinite willingness for God's mission.
This illuminated panel measures 20 by 28 inches, done with gouache, ink
and gold leaf on paper. It took nine months to complete and draws artistic
influence from 14th century English monastic Hermann Scheerre. Several
texts wind through the panel. The main body text is excerpted, in phrases,
from the E. Allison Peers translation, Image/Doubleday, 1989. Rubrics
(red lettering) highlight another phrase. Across the tops of the seven
castles can be read "Let us not be so foolish as to lose time by waiting
to receive what has already been given us once."
Text : Think of the soul as if it were a castle in which there are many
rooms and midst them all is the chiefest
room where the most secret things pass between
God and the soul. As far as I am concerned the door of entry into this
castle is prayer and meditation. All that
the beginner in prayer has to do is to prepare oneself with all possible
diligence to bring one's will into conformity with the will of God. Be
intent upon discovering what the
Lord is working in one's soul. Enter, then, enter within
one's self.
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